Farmall C Governor

Fri Nov 19, 2010 9:13 pm

I was easing out the clutch on the C the other day and I heard a "pop" then the engine dropped back to idle The speed control lever hadn't moved. I moved the lever and no throttle response. Something has done gone wrong in the governor. Are there any gottcha's I need to watch out for? The governor rockshaft doesn't seem to have much resistance and has some slop to it now. It will be awhile before I can get to it. But, I thought I would post for some ideas.

Thanks,

Doug

Re: Farmall C Governor

Sat Nov 27, 2010 12:37 am

That pop is probably the governor spring. When that happened to me it dropped to idle, no response from the hand throttle, but if you reved it at the carb the governor would fight you. It can be worn through at the hooks from use, or if it sat a lot condensation can cause rust that will eat it through as well (mine broke in the middle from rust through). They still had it at the dealers the last time I looked and you can get to it by pulling the governor case off the front while the radiator is still attached (IIRC, very tight to radiator shroud but it will come off). Too late to look at the moment, but I probably have pictures of the governor case if you need it. Stan.

Re: Farmall C Governor

Sat Dec 11, 2010 9:51 pm

Thanks Stan, mine has the same symtoms that you described. The fan shroud shouldn't be a problem as it is hanging up in the garage Pictures would be great if you have them available.

Thanks,

Doug

Re: Farmall C Governor

Mon Mar 14, 2011 8:03 pm

Back in January I gave our good friend Ken Updike from Carter & Gruenewald a call and ordered a new Governor spring (121709C1 Spring) as well as the 1/16 scale cub with snow plow. The spring and toy tractor arrived promptly. Tonight after supper there was still a good bit of daylight left now that the time has changed. The weather was mild so I decided to tackle replacing the governor spring tonight. I pulled out my trusty IH Service Manual and thought back on what I had seen while watching Gary Dotson take apart a Cub Governor at a Cub Fest then proceeded to remove the governor housing. As you can see from the pictures below the spring was the culprit as we suspected. I cleaned up the housing and did my best three handed man impression and finally got the new spring back on. I gave Bigdog a quick call just to make sure I had everything the way it was supposed to go before, I put it back together.

Everything went back together just like it was supposed to. I turned on the fuel, connected the battery, shook hands with the gear shift, set the choke, pulled the ignition switch and pulled the starter and she fired right up and had a full range of throttle. After she warmed up I took her for a short spin up the road and back through one of the housing developments. The new spring did the trick. I do believe that the governor is now more responsive and can feel a good bit more power now. Bonnie arrived home from class in time to watch me back it back into the barn and cleanup for the night.